I heart reviews!

Especially good ones!! :)

Here are two new reviews for Soap Dreams!!

Romance Book Scene

Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

Do you find yourself apologizing?

Lyrical Press has published three of my books. The first, A Bitch Named Karma is a full-length romantic fiction story that was so well-received! I am so so excited for it's success!!! But my next two were what Lyrical calls "shorts". Paradise Cove released in April and Soap Dreams released just a few weeks ago.

Lyrical Press defines "shorts" as a story between 15,000 and 20,000 words. I think mine are around 50-55 pages long. It's a great length to read in an hour or so while on a flight, commuting, waiting at the doctor's office. It's a quick read that a reader can finish relatively fast. I wrote them with the intention of submitting to a romance magazine who's max was 10,000 words. When that didn't pan out, I bumped up the word count and submitted to my editor at Lyrical. She loved them. I loved them. I couldn't wait to share these little shorties with the world.

This is one thing about digital publishing that I adore...there is a place for novellas!

But they came out and I found myself apologizing. Many people asked if they could get them in paperback. To begin with, Lyrical is very selective on which titles go to print....I was lucky with A Bitch Named Karma. But regardless, the length of the shorts is just too....short. Lyrical will not consider a book for print unless it is a full-length novel with a minimum of 60,000 words. Both of my shorts fall real short.

So I end up apologizing to readers that they will not be able to get them in print. I don't know what else to say. They don't own eReaders and won't read on the computer (I don't blame them...it's not easy or fun.)

It's all about romance for stop # 8!

Today I am guest blogging over at Ali Cross's awesome ninjaness! I'm talking about romance and how to convey it without getting all down and dirty!

Come check it out!!!

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into the Grand Prize drawing!!!

Oops! I screwed up!!!

Yikes!! I knew this was gonna happen at least once on this blog tour!!! I blame Blogger. I had it all set and then they went and screwed it all up by deleted a bunch of posts I had scheduled. I thought I was at Talli Roland's Blog today...but apparently, that's tomorrow! :)

How do you romance a romance author???

For stop #2 on my blog tour, I am guest blogging over at Girl Seeks Place!

How do you romance a romance author?????

Please go check it out!! And don't forget, every commenter will be entered for the grand prize!! Leave your email address!

Guest blogging at Unedited!

Yay!!!! Today is stop #1 on my first ever Blog Tour!!!

I am guest blogging over at Unedited!! Jen is so so awesome!!! Thanks for hosting me!!

Make sure you visit every stop and comment with your email address!! All commenters will be entered to win a fantabulous Grand Prize of a signed copy of A Bitch Named Karma, and digital copies of both Paradise Cove and Soap Dreams. (And there may be a couple other prize giveaways too!)

It's release day for Soap Dreams!!!!!!!

So so excited!!!!! Today is the official release day for my new novella, Soap Dreams!

It’s never too late to start over.

Robyn Miller is perfectly happy in her immaculate home, playing stay-at-home mom and
devoted wife. That is, until she's channel surfing one day and sees her high school sweetheart
Derek, acting in a lead role in her favorite old soap. Watching Derek's show becomes her secret pleasure...and brings back memories best forgotten. When Derek's mother throws him a big celebration in town, Robyn tries to avoid seeing him, but ends up in his arms for a dance.

Derek has finally hit the big-time, but he hasn't found happiness. He regrets losing Robyn,
and his show's ratings are falling. He longs to get her back in his life--both personally, and as a
writer on the show. Those love scenes she used to dream up were Emmy material. Knowing her marriage is a sham, can he convince her to follow her dreams and give the show--and him--a shot?

This is a great little romantic read! Buy at Lyrical's site, Amazon, or most other ebook sites!

I have my first ever review for Soap Dreams at Brianna's Blog, Girl Seeks Place! Check it out!!

Wednesday starts my first ever blog tour!!!! Check back every day for the tour stop link!

BIG! HUGE! MAGNIFICENT!!!!!

Hopefully this is as exciting as the title promises!!!

My new book, Soap Dreams, releases on Monday June 6th!! I am so so excited and have set up a blog tour to celebrate and promote it!

But that's not the only exciting news!!!

Every comment made on every stop of my tour will be entered into a drawing to win a fabulous Grand Prize!! Everyone now....Oooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The randomly drawn winner will receive a signed copy of A Bitch Named Karma! And that's not all!!! They will ALSO receive digital copies of both Paradise Cove and Soap Dreams! Yeah...that's every book I've had published!

I hope you think it's as awesome as I do!!!

PLEASE READ THIS: You must leave your email address in the comment to qualify for the drawing!! I need to be able to contact you if you win. With so many blog posts, there's no way I can just search around and try and find who posted where and on what date!

Some other things...You can enter the drawing more than once by leaving comments on different blog tour stops, but please, only one entry per post. And I will only ship within the US...sorry guys :( If the winner is from outside the US, they will receive a digital copy of A Bitch Named Karma instead of a signed paperback.

Thanks so much!!

Read, read, and read again.... The Galley Proof

The journey to publication is a rough one, as all authors know, and it never really ends. It's always hard...it's just a different kind of hard. But I am in no way complaining!!!! I enjoy the challenges! And I thrive on working hard and seeing what comes of all that hard work.

Right now I am in the final stage of editing for Soap Dreams, one of my short novels that is releasing in 2011. This is the galley proof stage, where my editor has prepared a PDF file of my story. No longer can I make changes directly to the manuscript. This is how the final product will look, unless I make notes on a separate document and let her know what needs to be changed. This is my absolute last chance to make changes or correct grammar and punctuation.

So far I have found one missing period, one period that should be a comma, and an ellipse that should be a period. Amazing how little things like that can be missed! There are some other spots where I am changing a word here and there or eliminating a word, just to make it flow better. Also there is a spot where a dog is mentioned, but after having taken out a dog reference earlier in the story, realized we needed to take this one out too.

I'm going to read through one more time....but I still worry. We've already done 3 rounds of copy edits and a round of line edits. And we still managed to miss these things. Will there still be some we miss?? I hope not...but it could happen.

As far as I know, there is only one line in A Bitch Named Karma where a period is missing. And there's also that horrible formatting error, that even though was fixed after the galley round, somehow it reverted and there was no way to fix it after that. :(

What do readers think when they see these types of mistakes?? I know what I used to think: "Who did this awful editing job???" But I don't think that way anymore. We are all human and mistakes happen. I am more forgiving of tiny typos, but if there gets to be too many, I wonder how much time and work the author and team of editors really put into it. If they didn't want to put in the hard work that is essential to producing a quality product, why should I give them my money and time to read it???

Revealing my new cover art!

You may have already noticed this on my sidebar. It's the cover for Soap Dreams, my forthcoming novelette, due out in June 2011.

I think it really captures the young love/first love vibe of the story! What do you think??? I like that's it's bright and sunny!

Don't forget my Show Me The Love Blogfest!! It's gonna be fun!! Make sure you sign up!

The reveal: Beginnings and Endings!

If you missed it on Monday, here is the original post.

Today I have decided to reveal where the lines came from!!! Maybe this will entice you to pick up my book or pique your curiosity for future and unfinished projects!!

Ending lines:

Maybe I could invent my own genre of fiction: Having-It-All-Lit.

This is the final line to A Bitch Named Karma. Wanna read the entire story?? Click here!!

She’d truly found paradise.

This is the last line to Paradise Cove, due out in March 2011 form Lyrical Press!

The happiness of mother and daughter was her top priority, and never again would she find herself anywhere other than where she wanted to be.

This is the end of Soap Dreams, also due out soon from Lyrical press, June 2011!

It was always there and would never leave them.

This is the last line from my women's fiction novel titled Spellbound. I've shopped this baby out a zillion times and nuthin'. But a few months ago I did get some really helpful feedback on the opening chapter..so I think that will help...whenever i can actually get around to working on it!

I’m flying once again.

This is the ending of a flash fiction piece I'd had published in Flash Me Magazine called Flying in Pink Satin. It was chosen as their featured story and nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

I know that if a time ever comes that we find ourselves in need of answers, we’ll find them together.

This is the last line of a piece titles A Quest for Answers and it was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom Edition. Wanna read it: Click here!

It would stand for a dream, a chance to live one moment in the limelight, even if it was only in my imagination.

Love this story! This is the ending to a story called A Shea's Dream, and was included in a local anthology called Voices from the Herd. It is about our theater. Check it out here! Proceeds benefit the Just Buffalo Literary Center.

Just another layer of daughter protection, but we’ll save that story for another time.

This one is great! It's from a piece called The Evil Eye, about my dad!! It was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family matters Edition. Read it!


And now the opening lines:

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

This was a comical piece titled You have to Kiss A lot of Frogs. It was published in a anthology organized by a local author- Nickel City Nights: Erotic Writing in Western New York. It's sizzling! Check it out here!

I fidget with my hair, smoothing an already perfect knot atop my head.

And the first line for Flying in Pink Satin.

Many things in our lives go unexplained.

The first line for A Quest for Answers.

“Finito!” I screamed, not caring if the entire building heard me.

The opening line from A Bitch Named Karma.

“Two egg whites, scrambled, wheat toast with blackberry jam and coffee.”

This is the opening line of a piece I wrote, very rough, and still sits unfinished. It was inspired by my Father in Law. That's what he ordered every morning for breakfast...and was the last meal he ate before leaving the diner one extremely sunny morning and was hit by a truck. He'd then been in a coma for six months before he died. It doesn't actually have a name....I think the working title is Two Egg Whites, Scrambled.

The crash of ocean waves echoed in Shelby Saunder’s ears while a soft steamy breeze blew the chocolate-colored strands of hair trailing from her twisted up-do.

This is the opening for Paradise Cove!!

Robyn Miller’s hands dove knuckle-deep into a mound of raw ground beef and egg as her daughter yelled from the living room.

And lastly, the opening for Soap Dreams!!

Hope you all enjoyed these!! And maybe these lines even piqued your curiosity!!

And Please please please sign up for my blogfest and share it on your blog, Twitter, Fb, anywhere!! Thanks so much!! http://thewriterscocoon.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-first-ever-blogfest.html

Signing a contract is so exhilarating!

Very excited to share with you all...Lyrical press offered me a contract for my second novelette, titled Soap Dreams! Yay!!

I wrote two novelettes, completed unrelated. A friend had sent me a link to a romance magazine that was looking for pieces with a max word count of 10,000. I thought I;d give it a try. And I really liked writing something that length. It was long enough to really get into the story (as opposed to a short story with a 5,000 max) but short enough to not be able to focus on any sub plots and I had to keep my character list short. I completed one, edited, got feedback form several places, and then sent it off. I wrote the second while I waited. And then I never heard anything. The second story was finished but the word count was too high....I let it sit. There was no point in whittling it down.

Fast forward a year or two. I had received my contract for A Bitch Named Karma from Lyrical press and I was ecstatic. And I found that they also published shorter works. Maybe I could finally find a home or these pieces that I had no clue what to do with.

But Lyrical has a 15,000 word minimum. So I went to work and bumped up my word count for Paradise Cove. I submitted it and wahlah! They loved it! Then I worked on Soap Dreams some more and when I finally had it ready to submit. And they loved that one too! I signed the contract and it's ready to mail! (Woulda went in today's mail, but no mail today!)

So happy to have found a home for these short works...one thing I absolutely LOVE about digital publishing!! A few years ago, no one would have wanted to publish a 15,000 word story. Yeah, there are compilations but never do they take on newbie writers.